Author sued by Jesse Ventura slain at Texas shooting range (w/ video)

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura is pictured in 2012 at a rally for Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson. His lawsuit against author Chris Kyle over claims Kyle made that he punched Ventura in a 2006 bar fight is set to go to trial by Aug. 1. Kyle was killed Saturday, Feb. 2. (Pioneer Press file photo: Jean Pieri)

The death of a former Navy SEAL sniper who penned a best-selling tell-all book might not deter former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura's defamation suit against the author.

Chris Kyle and a neighbor were shot dead by an acquaintance on a shooting range near Fort Worth, Texas, on Saturday, Feb. 2. Kyle and Chad Littlefield were shot by Eddie Ray Routh, police said. Kyle, 38, went to the range with Routh, a veteran who was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, said one of Kyle's colleagues. The motive was unclear, police said.

Kyle's book, "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History," detailed his 150-plus insurgent kills from 1999 to 2009. In the book, Kyle wrote that in 2006 he decked "Scruff Face," whom he later acknowleded as Ventura, for being disrespectful at a California bar.

Ventura, also a former member of the Navy's special forces, says the punch never happened and sued Kyle for defamation, invasion of privacy and wrongly profiting from the story of the punch.

Kyle's attorneys sought to have the latter two claims dismissed, but a federal judge refused and told both sides to be ready for trial by Aug. 1.

"I'm shocked and terribly saddened by his death and the circumstances of the death," said Kyle's Minneapolis attorney, John Borger. Given Kyle's death, Borger said, "it's way too early to determine what effect this will have on the lawsuit.

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Ventura attorney David Olsen said the former governor currently is in Mexico and that they plan to discuss the lawsuit's next steps this week. Olsen said available legal alternatives would be to pursue the case against Kyle's estate or against the book's publisher, William Morrow, an imprint within HarperCollins.

"There are things we can do," Olsen said, "and I know that the governor still wants to clear his name."

Ventura is seeking $50,000, court records show.

Kyle was remembered by fomer SEALs and current colleagues as a man willing to help.

"What I know is Chris and a gentleman -- great guy, I knew him well, Chad Littlefield -- took a veteran out shooting who was struggling with PTSD to try to assist him, try to help him, try to, you know, give him a helping hand, and he turned the gun on both of them, killing them," said Travis Cox, the director of a nonprofit Kyle helped found.

Lt. Cmdr. Rorke Denver, who served with Kyle on SEAL Team 3 in Iraq in 2006, called Kyle a champion of the modern battlefield. Denver wasn't surprised that Kyle apparently used a shooting range to help someone with PTSD.

"For us, for warriors, that's a skill set that has become very familiar, very comfortable for us," said Denver, a lieutenant commander in a reserve SEAL team.

"So I actually see it as kind of a perfect use of Chris' unique skill set and expertise of which he has very few peers."

Police in Texas said Routh opened fire on Kyle and Littlefield around 3:30 p.m. Saturday and then fled in a Ford pickup truck, which police said was Kyle's truck. At about 8 p.m., Routh arrived at his home near Dallas and was arrested after a brief pursuit.

Routh was arraigned Saturday evening on two counts of capital murder, police said. Routh was in Erath County Jail on a combined $3 million bond, police said. A knock on the door at Routh's last known address went unanswered Sunday. A for-sale sign was in front of the cream-colored wood-framed home.

The U.S. military confirmed Sunday that Routh was a corporal in the Marines from June 2006 to January 2010. He was deployed to Iraq in 2007 and Haiti in 2010. His current duty status is listed as reserve.

The medical examiner will release where Kyle and Littlefield were hit, police said.